Brighton or Bust

It’s been a good weekend for old car enthusiasts in the Capital. The annual London to Brighton run took place, as usual,  on the first Sunday in November. 

Commemorating the Emancipation Run of the 14^th November1896 which, in turn, celebrated the Act of Parliament raising of the speed limit for “light locomotives” on the road from 4mph to 14mph. Commonly known as the Red Flag Act, the earlier law originally required vehicles to be preceded by a man on foot carrying the said flag. Although the need for the flag had been abolished in 1878, the walking pace speed limit remained. The jump to 14mph was seen as a great leap forward by the motorists of the late 19^th century.

In 1896, thirty three motor enthusiasts set off to drive from Central London to Brighton. Although only fourteen of the vehicles made it to the final destination, it was a fine achievement considering the available technology and the state of the roads. It does however seem that there may have been some ungentlemanly behaviour on the day. There is a suggestion that an electric vehicle may have made most of the journey by train, Although it wasn’t a race, I suspect that there may have been a wager involved somewhere along the line.

The first official rerun of the 1896 event took place in 1927 and, with the exception of the war years and 1947 (due to petrol rationing), it has taken place every year since. Organised since 1930 by the Royal Automobile Club, the run started from Hyde Park at sunrise on Sunday morning. 

At this point I have to confess that I wasn’t there to see it. I’d like to say that it was due to circumstances beyond my control……..but I can’t. I will say no more! I have been to the start before and it is well worth making the effort. Next year I will try a little harder and, who knows, one day I may even make it down to Brighton to see them arrive at Madeira Drive.

Fortunately,  for the last few years, it has been possible to see a number of the cars in Central London on the preceding Saturday. Part of Regent St has been closed of to allow the cars, and their owners, to be displayed for the public to enjoy. There is also a Concours d’Elegance with prizes awarded for a variety of categories.

This year the event was extended with the introduction Regent St Motor Show. Featuring vehicles from three centuries, the19^thC was represented by the earliest of the London to Brighton cars, the 20^thC by the remainder of the veterans and the 21^stC by a politically correct range of  fuel efficient and zero emission vehicles. The 20^thC was further enhanced by the fact that this year is the 50^th anniversary of both the Jaguar E Type and the Mini Cooper and there were some very fine examples if both of theses marques on display.

Not everyone will think that closing a large chunk of Regent St on a Saturday is a good idea., I think that we can easily live with it. This is a free event in the heart of the Capital and seemed to be enjoyed by everyone. You can get up close and personal with some very interesting and colourful vehicles, you can talk to the owners and, if you ask them nicely, you may even be able to sit in one and honk the horn!

Go and take a look next year. It may even inspire you to get up early to watch the cars leave Hyde Park or, perhaps,  to stake out a place along the route to offer your encouragement to the participants.

 

Did I mention that they still symbolically destroy a red flag before the first cars are waved off? It makes you proud to be British!

A Commonwealth Institution

Last week I took advantage of the wonderful London Open House weekend to visit the Commonwealth Institute for the first time in over 40 years.Long closed and gently decaying, it was revealing its interior to the World for one last time before extensive changes are made in order that it can become the new home of the Design Museum in 2014.

 

 I have always loved this building, perched, as it is, on the edge of Holland Park (which also happens to be one of my favourite places in our City). My first visit to the Institute was as part of a school group, unsurprising really as my school was only about 10 minutes walk away, but I went several times after, either on my own or with friends.

In many ways, it was a dry and dusty place, full of the sort of  stuff that, if it were in the Science Museum or the Natural History Museum, you would hurry  past on the way to something more exciting. The production of cocoa or sugar cane not being the most interesting thing to a teenage boy! I think, perhaps, that I would get more from the exhibits now than I did then. However, although I probably didn’t understand why at the time, the building was fascinating. Details of its design and construction have been well covered elsewhere, so I will just say that it seemed to be more like the set of a James Bond film than a museum……and that roof was just something else! 

 Opened by the Queen on the 6^th November 1962, it gave sterling service promoting the Commonwealth and providing educational services to thousands of school children. It was closed, suddenly and controversially in 2002. Since then the building has had a very rocky ride, with a whole string of proposals and objections and all the time deteriorating year by year.

 Now, it has a future, it’s not a future that pleases everyone but then what would. The exterior is Grade 11* listed and is regarded by English Heritage as the second most important modern building in London (after the Royal Festival Hall) but the listing does not follow through to the interior. Design Museum representatives were a little cagey about the planned changes to the inside but I’m pretty sure that we can assume they’ll be extensive.  

 I think that we have to be practical here. It is currently a wonderful space and it will be a great shame to lose it, but it was originally designed for a specific purpose and that purpose has now passed.  To make it useable, and the future of the building is entirely dependant on it being useable, change has to be accepted. We can only hope that those changes are as sympathetic as possible.

Did I mention the flagpoles? They’ve been a feature of that part of Kensington High Street for so long. Visible even when the Institute is largely hidden by the trees. Whatever happens to the rest of the building, I hope they keep the flagpoles. They look fantastic…….even without the flags!

There are more of my pics here but, as I am unable to fly, there is an excellant photograph of the complex hyperbolic paraboloid copper roof here. The Evening Standard article itself is no longer relevant, except to show just part of the complex and troublesome history of this wonderful building.

The Festival of Britain

Visitors to the London’s South Bank between May and September this year will be able to enjoy a series of events and displays, relating to the 60^th anniversary of the Festival of Britain.

The original Festival was conceived as a "Tonic for the Nation” designed to boost the spirits of a nation still suffering the after effects of the Second World War.  London at that time was still blighted with bomb sites and a ruined infrastructure. Major redevelopment and reconstruction was urgently needed and it was hoped that the Festival would be the catalyst that would drive this forward. Additionally, it was seen as a way to promote Britain worldwide as a a leader in design, manufacturing and the arts. All of this from a country that was to continue rationing sweets until February 1953 and meat until July1954!

Conceived by the Labour government in 1947 and timed to coincide with the centenary of the Great Exhibition of 1851, a team of forward looking young architects, headed by Hugh Casson began transforming the site  located between Waterloo Bridge and County Hall in 1948

The Festival was opened by King George VI on the 3^rd May 1951 and went on to be a great popular  and financial success. It should be remembered that although the events were centred on the South Bank, there were other associated Festival sites in London and throughout the country. It closed, as planned, in September of the same year having had over 10,000,000 paid admissions to the main sites in 5 months.

Despite the Festival’s popularity, or perhaps because of it, Winston Churchill and his newly elected Tory government loathed the Labour conceived Festival and almost the first act of that government was to order the clearance of the site (the Royal Festival Hall being the only being the only significant survivor).

There are a few fragments still to be found away from the main site, the largest being the Lansbury Estate in Poplar, conceived as a “live architecture” experiment in the spirit of the Festival. Battersea Park still has the remains of the Festival Gardens though, sadly, there is nothing left of the fun fair which soldiered on, in a progressively dilapidated state, until 1974. I’m pleased to say that I was taken to the Fun Fair several times during its prime period in the mid to late 50’s. There are reminders too in Oxford St 

 

and White City.

Of course, the Festival was only ever conceived as a temporary show, but some of the constructions could have been saved. I know that I’m not the only person to wish that the  Dome of Discovery and the Skylon were still there for us to enjoy.

This was never intended to be an in depth history of the Festival. For those interested in learning more you could do far  worse than starting here and here. Rather, this was to mark an important point on my own personal timeline.

The Festival and I are almost the same age. When my parents visited the Festival of Britain in the Summer of 1951, my Mum was already pregnant with me! I was born a little over 3 months after the  event finished. I wish that I'd seen it. I know I would have enjoyed it.

It’s a sad truth that there can never be another FOB. It just wouldn’t work in the modern world. I think we are all to savvy and cynical these days. Technology, in particular, is racing ahead at an alarming pace but it is there, in your face, all of the time, and of course, we haven’t just been through the nearly six years of global conflict which so coloured the views and the attitudes of  the late 40’s and early 50’s.

There are some things we should be grateful for!